In the gospel of Matthew we read at the end of chapter 16 that discipleship is costly. We in religion today love to sing and proclaim that He, that being Jesus/Yeshua paid it all; but the real question should be what did He pay? Did He pay for our continued willful disobedience? Did He pay for our part of this relationship with God? Did His death free us from the yoke of being obedient to YHVH? To answer I offer “absolutely not!” “Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.25"For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.26"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?27"For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and will then repay every man according to his deeds.28"Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom."

There is a distinct disconnect in the church today that we have any real part to play in our relationship with YHVH. We show up, we sing a few hymns and perhaps place some money in the offertory; but apart from those few things really, we let the minister tell us what we need to know. Or we listen to contemporary worship music that tells us were good children of God because the lyrics says so. But that’s not what Jesus said… “"For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and will then repay every man according to his deeds” (Matthew 16:27) Bricks say a lot about a house. Sometimes they suggest a culture, a lifestyle, a symbol of finance, or worldly power. The word for brick in Hebrew is the word lebênâh. In the Hebrew alpha-bet it’s spelled with a Lamed, a Beit, a Nun and a Heh. The three-letter root word drops the Heh. Leben, Lamed, Beit, Nun; Inside this 3-letter root is a two letter root word—Ben; beit and a nun. It means white, tile, pavement, bricks and building material, which makes sense because bricks since Bible days have been used as building material. In the beginning of Exodus/Shemot we read how Pharaoh enforced slave labor upon the nation of Israel and their lot in life was to make bricks for Pharaoh--lebênâh. To further explain this word in Hebrew we have to look at it pictographically. The two-letter root word beit nun reveals a great deal of insight into the order of God’s beautiful mind. The beit is a picture of a tent, or a house, while the nun is a picture of a seed which represents offspring or the continuing generations of the family. The family is raised in the house. Now—when we examine the Lamed on the front of the word (lebênâh) it can be defined as lead, teach, yoke, forward, tongue, or control. So, whoever controls the building material controls the house—or more precisely the family inside the house. A house is a miniature of a Kingdom. When we reflect upon Pharaoh and his cruel slave labor imposed on our Israelite ancestry we see at that time Pharaoh controlled Israel because they were building bricks designed to build up his kingdom. But, it would soon fall. A pattern begins to emerge here. In chapter 24 verse 10 we read of when Moshe’, Aharaon, his sons Nadav and Avihu and the 70 elders saw God on the mountain and were not consumed. We read “and they saw the God of Israel; and under His feet there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself.” Very majestic, very reverent, very humbling; but what does it all mean? May I suggest to you that what we read here is a witnessing of YHVH’s requirement for His people to pure. Look again at verse 10. “Under His feet there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself.” The word clear used in this verse is the word tôhar that originates in the word taw-hare', Strongs Hebrew #2891 and it means to be clean, pure, bright. The word for sky is shaw-mah'-yim and is the word we associate with Heaven which is where YHVH’s kingdom is. The word used in this verse for pavement is lebênâh. The word for Sapphire is rooted in the word saw-far' and it means to count, to number, to recount, to talk, a scroll—like a Torah Scroll! God doesn’t have feet, He is a spirit, but to allow our finite mind to grasp some measure of God we read that beneath His feet was this stuff. His presence rested upon this pure, bright shining building material the ingredients of which were His Word like those later written by Moshe in a Scroll, a Torah Scroll—His Kingdom! YHVH’s Kingdom came down upon the mountain and Moshe and his company were not consumed! Why not? Because they had obeyed YHVH’s word three days prior to going up the mountain and washed their garments purifying themselves in preparation for His arrival. This is not to be taken lightly beloved rather it is a critical moment we come to realize that to meet with God we must pursue purity, because God is holy, He is pure. Now, to bring this back full circle. If we consult our Brit Chadashah/New Testament reading located back in Matthew chapter 17 we pick up where we left off from the end of chapter 16 after Yeshua/Jesus had just emphasized to the disciples that there is a very real cost to following God; “And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light” (Matthew 17:2). Does this sound at all familiar? Yeshua took His disciples up on a mountain top and became bright, as white as light; very similar to when Moshe’ and Aharon went up the mountain in Exodus/Shemot chapter 24 and saw God in the cloud. Here we have a mountain, a cloud, and a shining bright light as well. And if we look at the word used in verse 2 for white we find the greek word leukós. It means light, bright, brilliant, exalted to the splendor of the heavenly state. And when we trace this Greek word back to it’s Hebrew cognate we find it matches back to lâbân the same word we found back when Israel was making bricks for Pharaoh for ignoble purposes, and the same word we discover when Moshe’ and Aharan gaze upon God’s presence when it came to rest upon the pure white brilliant pavement stones of the kingdom of Heaven on top of the mountain. All of this exploring leads us somewhere, and we’ve already said it in this teaching, but to summarize it teaches us the seriousness of the holiness and purity of YHVH. Does God meet us where we are? Absolutely. Will He reach down in the most disgusting places,pick us up and save us? Absolutely! But after He parts our Red sea, after He leads us out of bondage, He’s going to ask us to commit ourselves to obeying His word. This will require us to follow what He says. YHVH says be pure beloved, so that we can know Him, come to understand Him, and experience His presence like never before! I want that! Don’t you? Ahmein. Blessings my friends, Shalom.

]]>Tue, 28 Oct 2014 17:16:42 GMThttp://www.willspires.com/wps-kanaph/lightwalkers1Practitioners or TruthThis most recently passed Sabbath Debora and I were invited to fellowship with a wonderful group of believers at Tekoa Messianic Fellowship in Toccoa, GA and what a beautiful time it was. It is good when brothers dwell together in unity. Debora and I were overwhelmed by these people and their generosity, their kindness and their desire to walk in The Truth; and so it happened this morning my daily Bible verse appeared up on my phone this morning. I looked down on my screen and read the following, “but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin (1Jn.1:7).” That verse sparked my memory of this past weekend. We experienced true fellowship and when you experience it you understand how desperate the body of Messiah is in need of it. But the verse did more for me than reveal an already colossal need in the body. It brought some things full circle that I simply would to share with you to encourage you right where you are.The enemy desires nothing more than to trip up YHVH’s children, to do anything he can to keep a lid on us so God’s Light won’t shine. Our flesh is hostile toward The Spirit so it too is prone to wallow in negativity, bitterness and the like. But we as God’s children have been hard-wired since eternity to be over-comers. The tragedy is that too many times we allow ourselves to become vulnerable and fall into the trap of assuming. Assuming God is against us, assuming it must be His will to punish us because we didn’t get it “exactly” right, assuming we are out of His will or else we would have a packed house every Shabbat, or assuming that we must be in rebellion or else we would always be experiencing some ethereal, transcendent emotional experience 24 hours a day. This is a maligned perception of reality and severely damaging to a heart and we all have one but if we don’t honestly bring them into the Light of God we will fail to understand whether a thing is truth or a lie. This may sound elementary, and it is, but this fundamental truth is abandoned so quickly even daily if we allow our heart to be dragged around by temporal circumstances and emotions. If we examine our verse again in 1 John chapter 1 verse 7 John stated that we will have fellowship with one another if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light. Looking at the word for light, phos in the Greek, we see among multiple definitions offered by Thayer’s means “reason, mind; the power of understanding especially moral and spiritual truth.” This was actually a key point I shared in my teaching on this past Shabbat’s parsha, Noach. Noach was a man righteous. The word translated there in Hebrew for righteous is Tsaddik and it means correct, lawful. Noach patterned his life after God’s laws. Like all successful people of God they believed God’s word to be true, they trusted it and they sifted their lives through it like a strainer. They were putting God’s word into practice. We read·Hebrews 5:14 - But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.·2 Peter 1:10 - Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble;·Philippians 4:9 - The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.·John 3:21 - "But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God."Darkened EyesWhat we find is that God’s Word is transformative when we apply it to our lives. When we meditate on the Word of God and keep it as a lamp before our feet we are given the spiritual gift of discernment. God’s Word however is not a tool to be used by us to manipulate one another, rather it is a key designed to bring us together. When we become practitioners of truth we have real fellowship with one another. The inverse of this is true also. We readMatthew 6:23 - NAS – "But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!”The eye as it is used here is the Greek word ophthalmos (G3788) and metaphorically it means the eyes of the mind, the faculty of knowing (Thayer’s). One of its Hebrew cognates comes from the Hebrew letter Ayin, and it means the physical eye, as showing mental qualities, of mental and spiritual faculties, spring, and fountain. In the case of the above verse we’re directing our attention to the condition of our mind. Darkness as it’s used in the above verse is the word skotos (G4655) and one of its very telling Hebrew cognates is the compound word tsal-maw'-veth and it literally means “the shadow of death.” When we choose to live under a shadow of death versus God’s penetrating healing light, we forfeit our spiritual perspective and are given over to being deceived. A person walking in darkness cannot have fellowship with a person walking in the light; they are two entirely different conditions of heart and mind. LightWalkersWhen we immerse ourselves out of a heart of obedience to YHVH’s Word then our eye/mind/heart is filled with His Light and at that point we can say if then your eye is filled with light, how great is that light within you! We are all still learning, but YHVH loves to fill His children; for He has spoken “I, the LORD, am your God, Who brought you up from the land of Egypt; Open your mouth wide and I will fill it (Psalms 81:10).”Reflecting over the weekend I remember the multiple acts of kindness poured out upon Debora and myself, and my heartfelt prayer is YHVH will fill each heart seeking Him at TMF, and that we’ll have the opportunity to pay it forward and to pay it back. I carry with me each day memories of truefellowship… practitioners of YHVH’s truth, LightWalkers—The Townsends, The Russells, and all the generous hearted people of God at Tekoa Messianic Fellowship. YHVH Bless you and keep you, May He lift His countenance upon you this week and give you Shalom. May we continue to pursue those things that lift one another up and be encouraged in daily practicing walking in the Light of Messiah Yeshua. Shine on LightWalkers, Ahmein! ]]>Tue, 28 Oct 2014 16:26:00 GMThttp://www.willspires.com/wps-kanaph/lightwalkers]]>Sun, 16 Mar 2014 03:13:25 GMThttp://www.willspires.com/wps-kanaph/asham-shouldnt-be-a-shame This week we read the parsha Tsav, and every time we read God’s Torah when we approach with a willing heart, a teachable heart, a humble heart, God imparts His beauty again and again to us, refreshing and renewing us, and often times allowing us to see things that have been there all along, but now He has revealed this to us to allow us to become more accountable for things we see in ourselves. Perhaps we grimace at the thought of that a little, but honestly it’s such a gracious way Abba prepares and transforms us. A little today, a little more tomorrow; can you fathom the anguish and remorse we would experience if God opened our eyes all at once to the things inside of us needing to change? But this is what He does, not us, Him; chiseling away at the cozy place we’ve constructed to keep us contentedly apathetic, or tenaciously dogmatic and narrow-minded. I’m speaking about myself because I have personal experience with being immature and stiff-necked, running roughshod over people “for the sake of The Gospel”, or refusing to engage with people “for the sake of The Gospel.” We all want to understand, but I think if not through the prevailing winds of today’s Christian culture, then through the puffed up pride I see in myself, especially when I’m acutely aware of my own brokenness is much like our prophet Jeremiah’s cry to Yehudah,“You may as well eat the meat of your burnt offerings along with that of your sacrifices. For I didn’t speak to your ancestors or give them orders concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. Rather, what I did order them was this: ‘Pay attention to what I say. Then I will be your God, and you will be my people. In everything, live according to the way that I order you, so that things will go well for you.’ But they neither listened nor paid attention, but lived according to their own plans, in the stubbornness of their evil hearts, thus going backward and not forward. For the people of Yehudah have done what is evil from my perspective,” says Adonai; “they have set up their detestable things in the house which bears my name to defile it” (Jer. 7:21-24, 30). “Here is what Adonai says: “The wise man should not boast of his wisdom, the powerful should not boast of his power, the wealthy should not boast of his wealth; instead, let the boaster boast in this: that he understands and knows me—that I am Adonai, practicing grace, justice and righteousness in the land; for in these things I take pleasure,” says Adonai. (Jer. 9:22-23) So in this week’s parsha we’re studying sacrifices which is beautiful because they explain so much of God’s grace, His provision by way of substitution of a sacrifice in our place which is always a type and shadow of Messiah Yeshua. But also, to echo what Jeremiah declared to Yehudah in chapter nine referenced earlier, these sacrifices are the way we draw near to God and can come to understand and to know YHVH. For this particular exploration I want to discuss the guilt offering, which transliterated from the Hebrew phonetically in English looks like the “Asham” offering. The concern we’re laying out here is exactly what happened with brother Judah and Ephraim, which is revealed in Jeremiah chapter 7. And that is to say they had fallen back into the sin of idolatry. They set up detestable things in their homes and attached YHVH’s name to it. Speaking of the home, I find it very, very interesting that several of the offerings were required to have the blood of the sacrifice splashed against the walls of the altar; and isn’t it interesting that YHVH commanded Israel to put the blood of the sacrificial lamb on the doorposts and lintel of the doors of their homes. See any connection? The altar is where the fire of YHVH is to be maintained and kept burning at all times; it’s also where the sacrifices and offerings are to be laid down and their lives are to go up as a fragrant offering to YHVH. Can we say with honesty that our homes are a place where we each lay our lives down for one another and honor God through humbling ourselves one to another? It is definitely something to meditate upon. This guilt offering however contains great significance in the life of each believer. First of all, the mere fact that there is such a thing as a guilt offering suggests that God doesn’t want us carrying around guilt all the time! Life was not meant for us to inflict hurtful words and thoughts to ourselves all day long, and by the way if this resonates with you then it’s time for you to claim authority over those condemning voices wrestling inside you. The adversary knows only too well that there is a fine line between humility and condemnation; but we are not living a condemned life beloved are we? Because Paul said therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Ro. 8:1). So if you are struggling with this then you really need to confront this issue and ask Abba to help you pull down those strongholds. Asham in Hebrew is spelled with an Alef, a Shin and a Mem Sofeed. Within this word is a two-letter root pronounced Shem. In the Paleo Hebrew (S#817) we learn that Asham means “guilt: one with a character of wrongdoing” (Jeff Benner, Ancient Hebrew Lexicon, AHL# 1473 C, p.278). Shem means name. Under God’s covenant we are given a new name, which we explored in the previous book Sh’mot, giving us greater depth of understanding that a name constitutes a heritage, a reputation and fame. Let us also not forget that there is only one name under heaven by which we can be saved, Yeshua Messiah. When our character is out of joint and not lining up with YHVH’s character we are guilty. For the believer with a heart sensitive to the things of God we understand what this feels like. Shem also means breath, because in the Paleo Hebrew the breath of a man describes his character. What motion does he make? What current does he move in? What are his words? What direction do his feet move in? See? Character, revealed by how we move and what we say, reveals our constant problem located at our center, the heart. The heart is where we hold our understanding of God. Oftentimes Abba has to adjust or tear down things we’ve attached to His character in our heart that are contrary to who He really is. Allowing false ideas that are not true of Him into our heart results in idolatry. The Hebrew word for idol is Pasal. It means to hew or cut, as in the chiseling of stone to form an image… a graven image. The irony is that God tells us “Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the LORD: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged” (Isaiah 51:1). God is doing a work in our lives, refining, chiseling, transforming all the time reminding us who we belong to, Yeshua. But in the subtlety of our surroundings, our habits, our conditioning, our struggles we attempt to chisel God more into an image that justifies a life of pride, of fear, of justifying an obsession, an addiction, which is a life of slavery. God says His word sets us free (Jn.8:32), His commandments are not burdensome (1Jn.5:3); but his yoke is easy and light (Mt 11:30). When we look at Yeshua we’re seeing the Name, or character of The Father (Jn.14:9), and YHVH said that He Himself practices grace, justice and righteousness... (Jer. 9:22-23). Grace as it is revealed in the Hebrew here is Chesed, and it means goodness, kindness, and faithfulness; to show kindness to oneself and to one’s neighbor. The main thing I want to point out here is that being a disciple of Yeshua, in covenant with Him, where we read in Colossians that our life is hid with Christ, if our heart is out of joint with God’s character, then God expects us to be accountable for that. "You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also" (Mt.23:26). "Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality , impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them. But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him— (Col.3:5-10).

He has given us power to address these strongholds, these defects of character, these idols that we’ve allowed to come in between us and Him. If Yeshua has all authority and power (1Cor.1:24), and our life is hid with Him then He has given us the power of choice and His Ruach Ha'Kodesh to overcome those things we've either given a blind eye to or willingly allowed to come in between us and our relationship with YHVH. In this sense guilt is a good thing because God’s Chesed or, kindness leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4), and repentance helps us to return to YHVH, where we are restored to a right understanding of Him.

Where Love Comes In

In the Brit Chadasha reading that many couple with this week’s Torah parsha is found in the 12th chapter of the Gospel of Mark. In verse 29 a Torah teacher asked Yeshua what the greatest Mitzvah is. Mitzvah’s root word comes from tsavah, who’s root word is tsav, or command. Here Yeshua sums up Torah with two primary commandments and both of them share the same key word. Love; to Love The LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself. Now so often we equate love with some fickle romantic flighty feeling we see feigned in Hollywood movies but love is much different than what the world has sold it as.

The rabbi in Mark chapter 12 said that these two commandments are greater than all the offerings and sacrifices. How can that be? In the Greek the word for love is Agapeo; translated to the Hebrew it becomes Ahav. Spelled with an Alef a Heh and a Vet, the two-letter Heh-Vet combination means to love, but pictographically it literally means to “provide for the family.” Alef means “The Strong Shepherd, leader, power, and God.” So love in it’s ultimate expression is pictographically translated to mean God provides for the family. How did God provide for His family? He gave us His son! He offered His son as a sacrifice to redeem us and to restore covering to us. Love therefore is a sacrificing of oneself, or one’s life in order to make sure the family is taken care of. In truth, to show love in its purest form is to become like Yeshua and sacrifice oneself. It is the definition of losing one’s life to find it. And if we can finally learn to walk this out Yeshua then says “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.” This is what we long for! Yeshua said “Thy Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven!” (Mt.6:10). May it be so, Ahmain and ahmain!

]]>Sat, 07 Dec 2013 05:30:31 GMThttp://www.willspires.com/wps-kanaph/shoulders-and-ox-cartsIt’s late Friday evening. Crickets and frogs sing in the warm wet grasses of our quiet country yard, disturbed only by the gentle jangle of the dangling wind chimes off of our front porch. When we departed South Carolina Wednesday a week ago we escaped the cold clutches of a massive cold front seizing upon its quaint borders. When we arrived in the Tampa area early Thursday morning while the stars still hung low in the night time sky, it felt as though we had regrettably carried some of the cold down with us. But by Friday the warmth of the noonday sun had chased all the cold away. And now, now as we sit in front of our window with bare feet on tile I smile in reflection that in some subtle gesture The Father’s blessings have followed us all the way back to South Carolina with sunshine upon our backs, and the sunlight of The Spirit radiating in our hearts. And as the final moments of this evening spiral toward the midnight hour I am reflecting on a melodic mental montage’ in the not so distant past. Fresh enough in my memory that they spark like arcing blue lights, catapulting beyond the known measurable universe, rejecting the defining lines of obscurity and crashing headlong into my heart, into the here and now. This past Chanukah was and is so precious to Debora and I. We have been showered with the adulation and camaraderie of friendship, love and support and from friends and strangers alike, but during this particular Chanukah season we dedicated ourselves to spending time with YHVH’s people in South Florida in an effort to emulate as Avraham was instructed to be a blessing and to be blessed. When in the moment of celebration with B’nai Yisra’el time stood still, things that would seek to stifle the flow of The Ruach HaKodesh possess no spiritual gravitational pull upon the heart of one drawn to Messiah during this festival of lights. We were constantly surrounded by the love of family. The focus was upon how much we could spend time with one another. I cannot define how timeless it was to observe and to partake in the conversation between like-minded spirits burning with the same eternal flame, brimming with the wonder, the love, and the light of Messiah. It literally lit up the room! Love rules and the Holy Spirit fell powerfully and abundantly! Everywhere we went His glory lead us and embraced us in the company of His children. One powerful moment we shared came at a grassroots congregation we were blessed to worship with Shabbat day down in Sarasota, Florida called The River’s Edge. God’s order is not without a measure of amusing irony betimes as I draw the connection between the truth declared here and this intimate group of souls fiercely committed to walking in the light of YHVH’s empowering truth. I had been sharing a bit on “The Beauty of Holiness” and what it means to worship The Father. My new brother Pastor David McCoy approached the group and called afresh to our minds the extremely relevant spiritual significance of what valuable take-away we receive from what happened when King David attempted in 1 Chronicles 13-16 to transport the Ark of The Testimony back to The City of David. We recalled brother Uzziah who in all sincerity attempted to steady the Ark when the ox cart stumbled and was tragically struck dead. It was a grave reminder of how God’s power and presence is a consuming fire. He is Holy, and not something to be handled in a cavalier way or carried roughshod like sheaves out from the fields. You see, an ox cart was used for many things. It was even used betimes to transport livestock to be used as sacrifices enroute to the Tabernacle. In one scenario reading from the book of Amos an ox cart was used to tote the sheaves brought in from the field. The word there for sheaves is omer which more specifically refers to a measure, or weight. We count the omer from Passover to Shavuot. It is a specific measure of time. The Ark of the Testimony however is eternal. It contains tangible references to YHVH’s provision, His miracles, His leadership, and most importantly to things that are eternal. Most importantly, His covenant which is with us as outlined upon the two stone tablets given Moshe upon Mount Sinai. It’s called the Ark of The Testimony because it testifies of YHVH’s covenant with us, His chosen people. He has called us His treasure, and a royal priesthood to be holy because He is holy. And most revealing in this record of Uzziah is the reason they attempted to transport The Ark on an ox cart in the first place was because they forgot God’s Word! They forgot His word, and when they attempted to handle it outside of the way Elohim had outlined, there was an outbreak. Speaking of forgetting, reflecting on this past Chanukah season often it is taught upon the meaning of the word itself. Defined as “to dedicate”, when we examine the paleo meaning we discover it means “to be trained[1]”. The priests had not been training in Torah. In the book of Deuteronomy we read (chapters 27 and 28) that God is very specifically speaking through Moshe of the time Israel will cross the Jordan by way of Shechem, between Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal. In Joshua chapter 3 we read of the miracle of the parting of the Jordan River as the Levite priests in faith walked down its banks and into it. They took up the Ark. According to the way YHVH prescribed in His Torah they hoisted The Ark upon their shoulders and the waters of The Jordan parted and they walked upon dry ground. The Testimony of God’s Covenant is a shared commitment between God and us beloved. As we walk through each day, we will be faced with challenges. Our faith and our choices will be tested. But will we as at previous times, and much like our Israelite forefathers begin to murmur, putting The Ark upon a common ox cart, dragging it like some beast of burden? Or will we commit ourselves to trusting in YHVH as we approach life’s challenges today with His Covenantal word raised high upon our shoulders, intimately engaged and acutely aware of the light of His Word as it lights our path and instructs us with “It is written”?[1] Benner, Jeff. Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of The Bible, p. 337, reference lexicon number 2178 (dfl)]]>Sun, 27 Oct 2013 22:43:09 GMThttp://www.willspires.com/wps-kanaph/meet-the-musicians Blessings friends, today I want to take a moment to share with you some very beautiful people in mine and Debora's lives that have impacted us in such an important and vital way for The Kingdom of YHVH. The songs you hear on the record "The Beauty of Holiness" began as melodies birthed from deep still waters in my spirit that originally found breath through the strings of my guitar and voice. The lyrics have been forged from the fires of God's Word and His Hand evidenced in the crucible of my personal experiences. But the lush soundscape that cradles the listener, ushering them into the presence of YHVH has been a collaborative effort over many many intense months with dear friends who without their support and willingness to share their inspired giftings this body of work would still be incomplete. This is my testimony and appreciation of them.

James and Gayle OHare are a beautiful couple who Debora and I have had the blessing of friendship for several years. James and Gayle's music and teaching ministry is called Israel My Delight. Based out of Boston Mass, James and Gayle are two vibrant and beautiful voices declaring in the wilderness to prepare The Way of The LORD! YHVH is using them mightily to speak into hearts and minds the truth of God's Word across the country.Years ago at a Messianic Conference we heard James' fiery-winged notes overwhelm our hearts in the masterful playing of his flute. James brings such a sweet and vital dimension to messianic praise and worship and Abba made it clear that this gift was meant to be shared and allowed to bless many more hungry hearts. James' unmistakable flute can be heard on the likes of Praise You and YaHoVaH and is sure to touch your heart. You can get to know James and Gayle at their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/jamesgayle?fref=ts. Take time to visit them and say shalom, these beautiful people will encourage you in your daily walk with The Father.

Denise and Eric Young of Shepherd's Heart Ministries Tikvah Israel hail from Clearwater Florida. Eric is Pastor and Denise is the Praise and Worship leader. This dynamic couple are weekly changing lives and turning hearts to YHVH, reaching out and sharing God's truth and are powerfully used of The LORD. Their hearts are open and willing to minister to all who have willingness. They're down to earth approachability speaks volumes to their love for YHVH. Denise is an accomplished singer and piano player. She and Eric own and maintain their own recording studio where they record many of their beautiful songs as well as other anointed artists. When you're in Clearwater look up these beautiful folks and visit them. I promise you will be blessed and refreshed! Take time please to visit them on their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/c.denise.young?fref=ts and tell them Will sent you!

Meet Dana Martin, consummate guitar and bass player, producer, bottle washer and brother. Dana is my right-hand man. A singular man, I have not been blessed musically as much as I have with him. He is a musical jack of all trades and the best kept secret in Messianic Music today. We have worked together on multiple projects, each one a joy and blessing. Much of the music and stylings I have we share together, and if you haven't noticed yet, much of the music we create is guitar-driven because it is our instrument of choice. Dana has put in countless hours pouring himself into the songs we collaborate on, so when the final product is complete and the listener hears it, those signature electric guitar tracks and most of the bass tracks come from his passion and love of YHVH and sacrifice. Please, take time to go by and visit my friend Dana at his Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/dana.martin.10?fref=ts

“Then the men rose up from there, and looked down toward Sodom; and Abraham was walking with them to send them off. The LORD said, ‘Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, since Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed? For I have chosen him so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of The LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that The LORD may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him” (Genesis 18:16-19)YHVH in His omniscience, in His omnipresence, His omnipotence shares His thoughts with us. He said, “shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do”? As if to say, I’m conflicted? I am not sure whether I should tell Abraham what I am about to do. Are we to believe The Almighty Creator of the cosmos is debating within Himself? He already knows the end from the beginning, He is all-knowing, and He is GOD…then it is safe to say that He is not debating within himself. The wordy version used here is anthropomorphism. It means to behave like, or to personify something that is not. We know that Numbers 23:19 states the obvious, “God is not a man thatHe should lie”, but throughout Scripture oftentimes to get some comprehension of who He is YHVH has designed His Word to describe Himself like a man, so that man can better relate in order to gain some measure of understanding of GOD. Of course, GOD is inscrutable; however, if we are going to engage in relationship with The Almighty He has to bring Himself down to earth in some degree so that we can understand, and He absolutely accomplished that by sending His son who told His disciples “"If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him” (John 14:7).So why then is there this record of God’s inward thinking like a man?

I submit to you He does this to provoke us to ask questions, which He intends to broaden our understanding of who He is, and what He desires of us! Ingenius, really; God didn’t need to tell Abraham anything. God already knew Sodom and Gomorrah were destined for destruction. He’s God, and yet He debates—or so it appears as it’s written in His Word, and then He relents and tells Abraham His plans. But He offers us some clues as to why. He says in verse 19 “For I have chosen him”. Why is that relevant here?

What significance does declaring that now have any bearing upon what He’s about to do?

Chosen as it appears here is the Hebrew word yada, and it means to make oneself known to, to reveal oneself to. When God reveals Himself people know about it! When Moses came down the mountain after having been with God they all cried for him to put a covering over his face because it shone! The point to that is, when a person has been in the presence of God, it changes them, and Abraham was changed by the presence of God. We read in Genesis 18:22 “Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, while Abraham was still standing before the Lord”. Abraham was in The LORD’s presence, serving Him.

The very nature of God is not to destroy, but to bring to repentance. “The LORD is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2Peter 3:9). The Hebrew word found here for repentance is Strongs #7725and it means a turning back to a previous state or place, and it also means to restore! The Greek equivalent as it appears in 2 Peter 3 is the word metánoia (Strongs #3341) and it means a change of mind, as it appears to one who repents, of a purpose he has formed or of something he has done (Thayer’s). Peter is talking about a change of mind. Ya’akov says in chapter one “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does” (James 1:22-25).Why does God share ideas that prompt us to ask engaging questions concerning His plans? “And He saw that there was no man, and was astonished that there was no one to intercede;” (Isaiah 59:16); because the ultimate thing Abba is looking for is a man to intercede on man’s behalf! The word used here for intercede is pâga’ and it means to meet, to cause to light upon, to make entreaty. We’ve established YHVH wants to restore, wants to give light, life and blessing, but man often becomes confused either out of ignorance or bad teaching. What Abba is trying to teach us is that we have a role in redeeming Israel! Adversity strikes! What do we do? Do we sit idly by? No, we have been called to intercede, because The Father is equipping us to be His hands and feet. You may be the chosen vessel He’s chosen to use to bring healing and comfort to another person’s life! Let us speak life to one another, through our words, our actions, our motivation! We’ve been called, now all we have to do is answer it. Blessings and Shalom.

Spending a little time going over songs in preparation for our visit to Michael Rood's in Charlotte in a couple of weeks. Always a blessing when we visit with The Rood Crew! I don't care what anyone says, comfort affects playability. I choked up on my guitar strap about 8-10 inches this evening. It sits a little higher when I play, but for me, it allows greater playability for me. Take time everyday to practice, and pay attention to how you respond to your instrument. Sometimes you'll discover that a small adjustment like to your guitar strap can affect your ability to play in the pocket!